Spike Lee's 'Red Hook Summer' Picks Up NYC Distributor

Spike Lee's newest joint, Red Hook Summer, which premiered at Sundance to mixed reviews and which was (wrongly) hailed as 'Do The Right Thing 2', has finally bagged a distributor.

Lee is teaming up with Variance Media to bring the film to theaters in NYC this summer.

Lee explained in a statement that this move to keep the film independent is consistant with his career path. “From my very first joint back in 1986, She’s Gotta Have It, I have been an independent filmmaker, and even today I still am.”

The film follows a young man named Flik Royale who moves from Atlanta to the Red Hook projects to be with his preacher grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse. The film also features a return of Lee's main character from Do The Right Thing, Mookie, which might explain why everyone thought this was a sequel.

Moviefone was at the Sundance premiere of Red Hook Summer, where Lee talked openly about his pride as an independent filmmaker, and why he doesn't want to take any studio money:

"We never went to the studios with this film, I told you!" he shouted. "We said, 'Were gonna do this motherfucking film ourselves and show it at Sundance.... This whole thing was planned out." Of the studios, he added, "They know nothing about black people. And they gonna give me notes about what a young black boy and girl gonna do in Red Hook? Fuck no! We had to do it ourselves!"

Lee is next helming an American remake of the South Korean revenge thriller Oldboy. Summer hits theaters on August 10th.